Pressure regulator for a fuel supply unit and method for production of a pressure regulator
The invention relates to a pressure regulator for a fuel supply unit of a motor vehicle, with a valve for producing a joining of a connection to an outlet above a designated pressure in the connection, with a movable piston and with a membrane, which is held on a fixed annular element, for sealing the piston in relation to the annular element. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for production of a pressure regulator for a fuel supply unit of a motor vehicle, in which a piston of a valve is joined to a fixed annular element in a sealing manner via a membrane.
Pressure regulators of this type are frequently used in motor vehicles today to regulate a pressure in a forward flow line leading to an internal combustion engine, and are known from practice. The membrane is clamped between two annular elements of the housing and separates the region above the piston from the region below the piston. The connection opens into the region below the piston. The required tensioning force of the membrane is generally produced by flanging an edge of the annular element.
A drawback of the known pressure regulator is that the sealing of the membrane is insufficient, in particular in the temperature range below 0° C., in order to keep the designated pressure at which the pressure regulator is to open within an exacting tolerance range. The pressure regulator may frequently fail completely due to leakages at the outer edge.
The invention is based on the problem of developing a pressure regulator of the type mentioned at the beginning in such a manner that reliable tightness between the membrane and the annular element is ensured. Furthermore, the invention is based on the problem of designing a method for production of the pressure regulator in such a manner that it ensures particularly reliable sealing of the membrane in relation to the annular element.